ESCONDIDO: Early election returns show ballpark has public support

Supporters of proposal leading, opponents trailing

Editor's note:
Unofficial results with 100
percent of the precincts counted Wednesday morning show that
incumbent Sam Abed won the mayoral race and that incumbent Marie
Waldron won the first of two council seats. The race for the second
council seat was too close to call between former councilman Ed
Gallo and Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler. Gallo had 18.59 percent of the
votes and Pfeiler had 18.47 percent, with an undetermined number of
provisional ballots left to count. Gallo's lead going into the
provisional ballots is 47 votes.

Early returns indicate that Tuesday's elections for Escondido
mayor and City Council will not damage prospects for a minor league
ballpark proposed for the city.

In the mayor's race, two candidates who have criticized the
proposal ---- Tom D'Agosta and Joe Bologna ---- were running third
and fourth behind two candidates who have expressed at least
measured support for the ballpark ---- Sam Abed and Dick
Daniels.

And in the council race, the two candidates who have expressed
support for the ballpark ---- Marie Waldron and Lori Holt Pfeiler
---- were in first and second place, while the five candidates who
have criticized the proposal were trailing.

However, council challenger Ed Gallo, perhaps the race's most
vocal opponent of the ballpark, was running a very close third
behind Pfeiler ---- 18.71 percent to 18.31 percent ---- with 59.2
percent of precincts reporting.

San Diego Padres owner Jeff Moorad, who plans to buy a minor
league team now based in Oregon and move it to Escondido, has said
he considers strong support from the public crucial.

Moorad and his advisers have also said they want a unanimous
vote from the council Nov. 30 on spending $50 million in city
redevelopment money on the ballpark.

Tuesday's elections appear to keep that possibility alive. But
Councilwoman Olga Diaz, who was not up for re-election, has become
steadily more critical of the proposal in recent weeks.

There are no plans to submit the ballpark proposal to city
voters in a referendum because Moorad must buy the Oregon team by
Dec. 1, a timeline that makes a referendum impossible, city
officials have said.

So Tuesday's elections were the only opportunity for residents
to express their opinion on the proposal, which would commit the
lion's share of the city's redevelopment revenue through 2036.

While the election results were clearly positive for the
ballpark, they showed far from overwhelming support.

Gallo's strong showing was a negative. And the two most ardent
supporters of the proposal ---- Daniels and Pfeiler ---- were
running second behind Abed and Waldron, who have expressed more
measured support.

The early results appear to stifle concerns that a so-called
"lame-duck" council will approve the ballpark on Nov. 30. That vote
will take place the day before Tuesday's election winners are sworn
in.

But with Waldron and Pfeiler leading, it appears the council
will not have any new members at the swearing-in ceremony on Dec.
1.

If Abed wins the mayor's race, the city would either hold a
special election or a four-member council would have to appoint
someone to serve the two years remaining on Abed's term.

But an appointment would probably not be made until
mid-December, and ballpark supporters Abed, Pfeiler and Waldron
would be unlikely to appoint someone opposed to the project. If a
special election is chosen, it would probably not take place for
months.

Many have characterized the elections as a key litmus test of
public support for the ballpark based on the candidates' widely
divergent stances on the proposal, but Pfeiler disagreed Tuesday
night.

"I'm not sure these results say anything at all on the ballpark
because it was not a focus of the campaigns," said Pfeiler. "There
were no (election) mail pieces about the ballpark."

Steve Peace, an adviser to Moorad, said the investment team did
not view the elections as crucial.

"We purposely stayed away from the election," said Peace, noting
his perception was that other issues, such as immigration, seemed
to be a greater focus on the campaign trail.

Peace also said the investors were confident that public support
for the ballpark was strong.